Guatemala City, Providence mayors to sign sister city deal

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - A former Guatemalan president who's now the mayor of the country's capital city is scheduled to visit Rhode Island this week to give a speech and sign a sister city agreement.

Guatemala City Mayor Alvaro Arzu and Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza are scheduled to sign the agreement Wednesday at Providence City Hall.

Arzu also plans to deliver a speech at Brown University on Wednesday about the peace accord he signed in 1996 ending 36 years of civil war. He's leading a delegation to Rhode Island meant to strengthen its commercial, tourist and cultural ties with Guatemala.

Elorza, whose parents immigrated to the United States from Guatemala, is among about 27,000 people of Guatemalan descent living in the Providence metropolitan area. The city is also home to New England's Guatemalan Consulate.